1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and a method of manufacturing an article using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
The imprint technique is advantageous in transferring a nanoscale fine pattern, and is coming into practical use as one of nanolithography techniques for volume production of articles such as magnetic storage media and semiconductor devices. In the imprint technique, an electron beam drawing apparatus, for example, is employed to form a fine pattern on a substrate such as a silicon wafer or a glass plate using, as an original, a mold (die) having a fine pattern formed on it. A fine pattern is formed by coating a resin on a substrate, curing the resin irradiated with light while the pattern surface of a mold is kept in contact with the resin, and releasing the mold from the resin.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-521438 describes a method of preventing a polymerizable material from flowing out of a desired imprint region, and “burrs” from being formed. In this method, a polymerizable material within a “band” as the periphery of an imprint region is exposed to be cured and/or solidified, and then a polymerizable material within the region surrounded by the “band” is exposed and/or solidified. In exposing the polymerizable material within the “band”, the polymerizable material within the region surrounded by the “band” is blocked against light by a mask.
In arranging a plurality of shot regions on a substrate, a plurality of shot regions with identical rectangular shapes are often arranged. However, when one shot region includes a plurality of chip regions, arranging shot regions including the edge of the substrate (to be referred to as edge shot regions hereinafter) on the periphery of the substrate is effective in manufacturing a larger number of chips from one substrate. An edge shot region is arranged to include at least one chip region. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-521438 does not describe details of a method of imprinting in the edge shot region, but it is surmised that each shot region is arranged so as not to protrude from a valid region (a region where a device can be arranged) on the substrate. When the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2011-521438 is applied to imprinting on a substrate having edge shot regions, in the edge shot regions, the resin may be drawn by suction into the recesses of the pattern due to a capillary action, and flow out of the substrate along these recesses. Alternatively, as the pattern surface of the mold comes into contact with the resin, the resin may simply spread horizontally and flow out of the substrate.